


they say all's fair in love and war

by DrowningInStarlight



Category: King Falls AM (Podcast)
Genre: Action & Romance, Angst with a Happy Ending, Flirting, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-04
Updated: 2018-09-04
Packaged: 2019-06-29 14:49:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,481
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15731631
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DrowningInStarlight/pseuds/DrowningInStarlight
Summary: In which battles are fought, Pete Meyers is called a dipshit, and things are taken entirely too seriously.





	they say all's fair in love and war

**Author's Note:**

> If you're confused, please read to the end-- I promise it does make sense!

Ben was running. 

It felt like he'd been running forever, swerving the rusted oil cannisters and throwing himself round darkened corners. The Rebel base was supposed to be just ahead, but these passages twisted and turned and the darkness made them near impossible to navigate. The sound of laser fire echoed distantly behind him, and he cursed it bitterly. 

It had been a trap, of course it had. Looking back, he couldn't believe he hadn't seen it, as if the generals of the Federation, Jack Wright and Emily Potter, would have been careless enough to let their plans be guessed by the Rebellion. 

He should have known, and as co-captain of the Rebels he should have been fast enough to save his team. Now they were scattered; he'd lost sight of Troy when they'd first entered the smoke filled base, lost Mary when the Federation's soldiers had appeared, lost Sammy when they'd tried to pull back and cut their losses. 

"Go, meet you back at base!" Sammy had yelled, before turning his laser gun on the Federation's top soldiers, Herschel Baumgardner, Lily Wright and Ron Begley. Ben had nodded, ducking out into a small passage unnoticed.

He hadn't stopped running since, not even to check his luminescent map of the tunnels. Instead he trusted in the knowledge they'd learned from their many recon missions earlier, and ran like his life depended on it. He just hoped that Sammy was doing the same. 

 

After several more twists, the passage opened out into the huge dark room that the Rebels were using as their base. It had luminous marks on the walls, graffiti in vivid neon colours, and in the middle a barricade had been built out of the abandoned oil cannisters that littered the tunnels. At first glance, the room appeared empty, but then people stepped out of the shadows, brandishing laser guns. Cecil Sheffield, Janice Finkle and Pete Myers, the half of the team. There was no sign of Sammy, Troy or Mary. Damn it. 

"Ben!" Cecil said, lowering his laser gun at once. "You made it!" 

"I made it, Mr Sheffield," Ben said. Janice lowered her gun, too, but Pete... Pete didn't. He pointed it firmly at Ben. 

"You led us into a trap," he said accusingly. 

"Yes, I know. I should have realised--" 

"Damn right you should have realised, Arnold," Pete said. "But you didn't. I'm starting to think you're not very good at this whole captaining lark." 

"Well, you didn't spot the trap either, Pete," Janice pointed out. "None of us did." 

Pete jabbed his gun in her direction. "Quiet!"

"What do you want, Pete?" Ben said wearily. "We don't have time for this, we need to find the others and plan a counter attack and if we don't do it soon it'll be too late. They'll win." 

"You don't deserve to be captain," Pete said. "I want to you step down, and formally hand over the position to _me._ " 

"Oh, for god's sake," Ben said. "Why do you always have to be as awkward as possible? Why are you even here?" 

"Because _you_ invited me." 

"Pretty sure I didn't." 

"I mean it, Arnold! A vote. Who wants me to be captain?" 

No one said anything. Pete scowled, and said "Fine. Who wants _Ben_ to be captain?" 

Cecil opened his mouth, but Pete pointed his gun at him again. "Don't even think about it," he said. "I won't hesitate, bitch." 

There was a long second of tense silence, then a voice from the tunnel said "I vote for Ben, myself." 

"Sammy!" Ben turned and threw himself into his co-captain's arms. 

"Whoa, hey buddy," Sammy said. "Everything okay here?" 

"Well, apart from dipshit, over there, everything's fine," Ben said, and Pete made a rude gesture in their direction. "What about you? What happened back there?" 

"They've got Troy and Mary," Sammy said grimly. "I only got out because Troy pushed me out of the way." 

"Are they...?" 

"Just captured, from what I saw," Sammy said. Ben nodded, and took a step back. 

"We've gotta rescue them," he said. "We'll only get one chance at this. The Federation an incredible strong team, they've got Herschel Baumgardner, Ron Begley, Lily Wright... and that's not even including the two Generals themselves. So, our only hope is taking them by surprise." 

"Ben's right," Sammy said. "We have to go _now_." 

"Now?" Janice said. "No way will that work! We'll need time to work out what we're gonna do, strategize--"

"They expect us to do that," Sammy said. "In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they're going to launch an attack on us _as_ we're planning, while our guard is down." 

"Ben's friend is right," Cecil said. "Herschel knows that old trick like that back of his hand." 

"Right," Ben agreed. "Okay, so the plan is this-- Sammy, Cecil, Janice, you three cover the main entrance to their command centre, exactly like we did just now. This time, however, I'll sneak in round the back while they're distracted, and free the prisoners. Then we'll have them surrounded." 

"Good plan," Sammy said. "Pete, you do... honestly, I don't care. Do whatever the hell you want." 

Pete huffed indignantly. "I'm never fighting on your team again!" 

"Are we ready?" Ben asked. Everyone nodded. "Right. Remember, the Federation might have won the battle, but we can still win the war." 

They split away from the cannister barricade, and with a quick grin at Sammy, Ben dived off down a side passage. 

It was completely dark, except for the graffiti on the walls glowing green and purple. The air smelt bitter from the smoke, which hung in billowing clouds around Ben's feet. He gripped his laser gun more tightly. 

The passage started to twist and turn again, and he knew he was getting close. The command room of the Federation was probably the room of most tactical importance in the entire tunnel network, Ben knew. It had enough control panels and escape routes that it was unlikely they'd managed to pin down the actual people, but if they could take the room... Well, the Rebels were in need of some good luck. 

He rounded another corner carefully, and then... 

"Well, hello there, captain." 

_Fuck._

"Hey, General," he said. In front of him stood General Emily Potter, looking deadly in her warpaint and camo. Of _course_ she'd have predicted his plan. 

"Well?" he asked. "Why haven't you shot me yet?" 

"Because that would be too simple, wouldn't it?" she said with raised eyebrows. "If I shoot you and your teammates hear the noise, they'd run. This way, we catch them all at once. But then, you knew all that, didn't you?" 

"Yep." He took a step closer, not lowering his gun. "I'm impressed you got it so easily, though." 

"Oh, I _know_ you, Benny," she said, taking a step forward to match his. "After all, it's not like this is the first time we've... crossed paths." 

"Crossed paths," he said, and they were so close now he could see the way her chest rose and fell with her breathing. "Yeah. That's not new." 

She let her gun drop, just a little bit, and then they were kissing and fuck, fuck, _fuck_ , every plan went out of Ben's head in an instant. 

Just then Ben heard shouting coming from in the command room, and Emily pulled away. She looked at him for a moment, opened her mouth as if to say something...

Then shot him in the chest. 

"Sorry, Benny," she said. "War's war." 

She spun on her heel and called "Jack?" 

"Got 'em!" Jack called back triumphantly. Ben groaned. _Not Sammy..._

Emily turned back to Ben. "Looks like the war's over!" 

Suddenly the lights flicked on, and an electronic voice announced "Victory for team two: Federation." 

"Fuck you, Em," Ben said, accepting her hand up. 

They walked into the command room and joined the others. 

"Ben!" Sammy said in mock protest. "What happened, man? Where were you?" 

Jack nudged Sammy. "Looks like he got a little... distracted." 

Ben pointed at Emily. "It was her fault!" 

"Oh, it was," Emily agreed. "I think I'm quite good at being a general." 

"Yeah, I'd say so," Troy said, laughing. "Just a little. You got us all good with that trap a' yours." 

"That was Jack's idea too," Emily said. 

"I just hope the pair of you never decide to become supervillians," Sammy said, as they filed out of the tunnels into a brightly lit hallway. "Me and Ben would probably struggle to prevent you from taking over the world." 

They dumped their guns onto the racks that were waiting, and then pushed through a pair of double doors. 

"Happy birthday, Benny," Emily said, kissing him on the cheek. 

 

The guy sitting behind the reception desk looked at them all oddly. "Wow," he muttered. "You guys really get into laser tag, don't you?"

**Author's Note:**

> Because I can totally see the kfam crew being those people who have super intense birthday parties. 
> 
>  


End file.
